Monday, July 25, 2011

AZ Sleuths Book Discussion Group: Leaning Chimney

Our AZ Sleuths book discussion group met at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale in March for our book discussion on the classic Nancy Drew book #26, The Clue of the Leaning Chimney.

The ladies surprised me with a birthday cake and goodies--it was a nice surprise! Sleuth Dede also shares the same birthday as me (July 31) so I wish her a Happy Birthday as well!

Check out the little matchbox Nancy Drew goody I got:

We enjoyed this book and it's unusual mystery. Everyone could tell a new ghost was writing this Nancy Drew book - George Waller Jr. The revision was pretty much the same as the original, just a bit shorter in parts.

Attending were myself and my mom Linda, Judy, Dede, Gail, Arlene, Melanie, Jackie, Cheryl, Beth Marie, Tina, and Sherry.

Judy and Dede brought their Nancy Drew convention scrapbooks and here are some pages from those:

At our May book group meeting I handed out everyone a Nancy Drew bookbag from the pocketbook mysteries set that I had on hand. I have a huge bag of these with various flaws that keep me from selling them. But they're perfect for a Nancy Drew bag craft activity! We'll be doing one of these at our 12th annual Nancy Drew convention in Phoenix, March 12th! They're very easy to do and embellish and one can be done in about an hour or hour and a half which is perfect for a craft session.

Here's a sample of original bag and finished altered art bag that my mom and I did:

Scrap cardstock was glued onto the bag front and back including the spine using a glue stick. Ribbon was added around the edges using a hot glue gun. Beads were sewn onto the purple ribbon attached inside and also magnifying glass charms. Vintage yellow spine picture covers which had been cut off of books were attached front and back--see above and below:

This bag was created using the actual spines from yellow spine picture covers that were cut up to make spiral bound journals. They needed a new home and were an interesting item to work with for this purse:

Ribbon was used to embellish as was the 1" mini buttons we sell in our Nancy Drew Cafe Press Shop--these buttons ran from front onto the spine and back cover in a line.

Here's everyone with their bags from the exchange--you can see how everyone embellished what existed on the bags with glitter, ribbons, buttons, and charms as well as glued on cutouts:






We had a great July book club meeting and will meet up again in September and then again in October for my spooky Nancy Drew Halloween party!

Jenn:)

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